Valley Community Cemetery is out of space, as graves are now being dug in the roadway

The lack of space to bury the dead is becoming an exponential
problem, since the public graveyards are at capacity and the new
cemetery – promised more than five years ago – is yet to
materialize.
 
During the COVID-19 pandemic over three years ago, a decision was
taken to utilize the Valley Community Cemetery for general burials
in order to take the strain from the St. John’s Public Cemetery. 
 

However, it has turned out to be a disaster, residents say, with
reports that the countryside graveyard has no space left for “proper”
interment.

REAL News correspondent George Wehner reports that the
deceased are now being laid to rest in what was once the roadway
into the community cemetery.
 
As shown in a video of the burial ground, bodies are being interred
in the road, with only approximately 60 feet of access way left.
 
Accordingly, Wehner estimates that the Central Board of
Health (CBH) will be able to accommodate only 15 to 20 more
graves at that site before it is entirely out of space.
Other persons who have attended recent funerals say that his
estimate is too generous.

In Wehner’s video capturing the burial ground, it was observed that
a hearse could not drive too far from the entrance gate to reach the
site where the person was to be buried.
 
In fact, the hearse had to reverse into the grounds so that the coffin
could be removed, since there clearly was no room for it to turn
around.

As recently as late last year, Minister of Health Sir Molwyn Joseph
and the Cabinet announced that burials at the designated site in
Tomlinsons would begin immediately, given the critical situation.

They said that the location was being fenced and roadways were
being marked out. But since then, the work appears to hsve stalled
and there has been no definitive word on when the new site will
begin to accommodate burials.